There was also a block called "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays," which would air on every Friday Nights with new episodes of each of the shows. The block would also be hosted by characters of the shows. One night it would be hosted by Johnny Bravo...and the another night it would be hosted by Dexter.

Classic Cartoons

You could also watch classic cartoons or shows made by Hanna Barbera such as Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Classic Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and The Smurfs.

If it were not for Cartoon Network-I probably would not have any appreciation for classic cartoons. As a kid I absolutely loved watching Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry. I loved when Cartoon Network aired classic animation like The Flintstones and The Jetsons.

Toonami:

And of course, you had Toonami which was primary action-animation block that ran from 1997 to 2008. Toonami aired anime and action shows. Toonami came on in every weekday afternoons.

Toonami was responsible for the massive popularity of anime in the Late-90's/Early-2000's. It made anime like Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo!, One Piece, Outlaw Star, and Naruto, all which became extremely popular with kids in the US.

You also watch many action shows like Justice League, Batman Beyond, Samurai Jack, or Teen Titans.

I loved coming home after school to watch Toonami during the week. All of my friends loved watching the block as well. We would get together to watch Toonami after school. The block was so awesome.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast:

Space Ghost Coast to Coast was an animated parody talk show, hosted by the 1960's Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. The show ran for ten years from 1994 to 2004.

I loved and miss watching Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I remember when it would come on late every night and watching it. The show was so funny.

The show's style of mature and surreal humor would soon launch Cartoon Network's late night television block, Adult Swim.

So where did Cartoon Network do wrong? How could such an awesome channel go downhill? How could this have possibly happened?

I will discuss that in Part 2, which will be coming soon.

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Cartoon Network was created in the 1990s because TurnerBroadcasting had just acquired the Hanna-Barbera catalog andwanted a showcase for it. OK idea, but then they shifted the H-B shows to a channel called Boomerang, and began with their own cartoons. Again, not a bad idea, but THEN they startedbuying all of Fox's cartoon castoffs - NOW a bad idea. If there's anything TV doesn't need, it's another Fox network.

My friends and I often reminisce about the classic late '90s/early 2000s days of Cartoon Network...I am Weasel, Cow & Chicken, Dexter's Lab, and everyone knows the rest - CN's equivalent to Nickelodeon's animated heyday of the earlier '90s. My question is (and this could go for anything that there is to be nostalgic about.)

But is it really that the shows were really better, or just because we were kids then? Less worries, more freedom, less responsibilities, etc. I'm prone to believe the shows at that time were legitimately better.

Well, I started watching Cartoon Network in 1993. Back then it was something new, so I was rather curious, not knowing what's it about, than being a huge fan. Plus CN was still developing and slowly building itself a name.

The most vivid and clear memories of CN that I have are from the years 1995-1999, especially 1997. That had to be probably my favourite year of all time - in general, not just TV-wise. It was a transition between the old and the new. Lots of old-school stuff, yet it was a post-World Premiere Toons era - paving way for new originals (aka Cartoon Cartoons).

Cartoons became so wussy starting in the 80's. Smurfs, Power puff girls, dexter, and sooooo many just plain stupid cartoons. Then the most absolute ridiculous, HORRIBLE, non-entertaining junk came on. Anime bs! Toonami was the definite end of ANYTHING that resembled a decent channel. That crap is AWFUL! WHAT @%$#@#! Bugs, Wyle E, ALL Looney Tunes, 60's shows, etc are THE BEST and nothing has equaled them with the exception of the Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, which are mainly adult cartoons.

It also follows the script of HORRIBE so-called music. Rap is no talent rhyming by angry racists for the most part with NO MUSICAL TALEN AT ALL. Pop is PUKE techno, no talent bs. ALl other bs like punk, grunge, whatever is just talentless JUNK! And HolyyWEIRD has no imagination anymore. Notice all the remakes all the time of movies and tv shows? The last 20 years or so in entertainment has been nothing but pure liberal, hollyweirdo, normalphobic, immoral CRAP!

The fact that you haven't been on the site longer than I have makes that statement false. There's been dozens of these articles to count, even if some of the writers aren't exactly whining about change. It's like the #1 subject that newbies write about. There's even something in these Cartoon Network ones that none of the writers researched on: that Ted Turner cancelled a handful of shows just to keep Scooby Doo on the air. So the channel sucked to begin with.

This thread should be called the down fall of EVERYTHING. the 2000's are an utter disgrase. All of the networks have fallen, YTV, Nickalodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, Tele toon ect ect. It comes with the '2000's' territory. This decade doesn't even retain one single trinket of what made the 80's and early 90's so magical.

I do miss old school Cartoon Network and I did enjoy it more in the beginning when it was mostly classic cartoons and a few Cartoon Cartoons. Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab were all great. However, I really don't care for negative and/or complaining articles. By being negative you have ruined a perfectly good opportunity to reminisce about the early days of Cartoon Network. Nostalgia is great but when you are negative you suck the warm and fuzzy right out of it. In short, it is possible to celebrate things you enjoy without crapping all over things that other might prefer.

Oh great, another "This channel sucks now article". Now I don't like the fact that Cartoon Network still has live-action shows, but at least those shows are now in the minority. And even if there are live-action shows, they don't last very long.

Oh boy here come the "the channel didn't die, you just grew up!" argument. I'm sorry but when half of Cartoon Network's line up is live action crap then it's not Cartoon Network, they've abandoned everything the channel stood for and represented. Also that friggin' anti bully commercial with the rapping is one of the most cringe worthy vomit inducing monkey crap spewing sack of human bile I've ever seen in my entire life.

Argument, you say? I'm only making things clear. If you really have to stay glued to the past that much then desperately look for the dvd sets that are out. Nobody's pointing a gun at you saying that you have to drop everything in terms of what the channel has now. You just have to live with it. But if my words mean nothing to you then I guess this is what RetroJunk has boggled down to. People that continue to complain about change until the cows come home

Wanting it? That's not reminiscing the past, it's being stuck in it. What we share here are only our memories. We can't dwell on what once was because history has changed. The more these "I want it back" articles get made, the more it sounds like a typical subject for any newbie on here to write. I've been a lurker here since '07 and there's quite an unneeded batch of these articles in the archives

These types of articles are only showing up cause everything is crappy right now. From tv to music to the economy to damn near everything and all this crap is making us remember how good we all had it back then.

Alright then. I'll just thumb them down. You may like the repetitiveness of these but I sure as hell don't. But hey if you think EVERYTHING today is crap then that's your opinion, and it's a stereotype among a lot of newcomers on this site. Whining about the new generation isn't going to solve anything because the network that this article focuses on is children. If any kids from this generation watched any cartoons from even the 90s they won't understand any of the jokes or references that the characters make because they focus on the time of the decade that they'd make sense with. Like I said, we have dvd releases for a reason

It's not all newcomers to this site. I've been a member of this site for almost 5 years now and most comments on old tv shows are about how everything is sucks now. So it's not just newcomers, it's been a thing on this site for as long as I've been here.

I'm glad someone agrees. For one there were 2 cartoons on there last year that I personally loved, Green Lantern and Young Justice, two shows that I did not grow up watching, and what does the piece of crap network do with them? Cancels them only to replace them with pure crap like Teen Titans Go and Beware the Batman. Cartoon Network can go to hell lol.

they're focusing on a new generation of children. it's a kids network after all. i'm surprised that there's still people that piss and moan about this stuff and can't acknowledge the fact that they can't do anything about it. just let it go, guys

Isn't that what the Boomerang channel is for? And if they're not showing a lot of old stuff anymore then just go on Youtube or video streaming websites. Channels can't air the same shows forever you know. It's like i already said, with it being focused on new generations of children the channel comes at a cycle in which they move on with new shows and ideas. Our shows came and went, and now it's the next generation kids' turn to experience this. See where I'm getting at?

Gotta love how people keep saying these are "declines". Look you guys, I miss these old shows too... But as we grow up, a new generation of children stay tuned to this network and upon that chance there are new shows that come and go. It's the cycle of television networks and the audience it focuses on. Times change. Nothing went wrong, and it didn't go downhill. We have to move on and accept the channel for what it's showing these days

Exactly. We had our's now let's let the younger generation have their's. Nickelodeon, Disney, and the Cartoon Network are, were, and always will be marketed toward kids not whiny overentitled 20-35 year olds.

Sadly I never got to see Toonami on CN (CN changed from FTA to payservice when they went to digital in the late 90s) Loved watchin it back in the days (Centurions, The Mask, DumbDumber, Swat Katz TC, RR, Batman,..) btw I think the death of Hanna started the downfall of CN